The world's #1 resource for everything Subaru Tecnica International, with a core focus on supporting every individual in a positive environment, regardless of experience and technical ability.
Please take a second to click here to register, and in a few simple steps you will be able to enjoy a "NO DRAMA" community. Once registered please introduce yourself.
Thank You.

IGOTASTi is an online forum and community for all Subaru WRX STi enthusiasts. In the forum you will find an informative tech area, a place for Member’s journals, Vendors with special Members pricing, and monthly contests.
If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the helpful FAQ and click REGISTER to sign up.

PLEASE NOTE: SECURITY SPAM FEATURE

Our system prevents potential spam from registering and ruining your experience in our forum. Sometimes it may prevent a true user from registering. If this happens to you please contact us at info@igotasti.com with your preferred user name & email address and we will create your account for you. We will send you a welcome letter with your user conformation to the email you provide us, if you don't receive it please check your spam folder in your email account. Thank you.

User Info Menu

Car

2007 STI OBP

Join Date

Aug 2011

Location

DC

Posts

4,050

Local Date

05-25-2019

Local Time

11:26 AM

Awards

Must-haves for a garage setup

I'm finally going to have my own 2-bay garage and I'd love to get some ideas on the "must-haves" and "nice-to-haves" for the setup. Currently, I do all my work out of a 12" toolbag, so this will be a nice step up for me!

User Info Menu

Re: Must-haves for a garage setup

I recommend some pegboards to hang tools. I recently put a few up and it makes finding a tool and putting it back in the right spot a lot faster.

Build your own work bench. It is pretty cheap to do and you can make it fit your space exactly the way you want.

I would highly consider coating the floor if it isn’t already. You can do it yourself and it works out nice if you prep well. It makes oil spills and general cleanup really easy and it looks nice.

A decent kerosene or propane heater is nice for the winter and you might be able to snag one cheap coming into spring. To go along with that, get some screw in hooks and a couple cheap tarps to use as a divider in winter. Then you only have to heat one bay where you are doing your work. Speaking of hooks, buy a lot of the screw in hooks, they are nice to use to get things off your floor space.

All of that stuff is pretty cheap to buy/make/install and make the garage more functional. Enjoy it!

User Info Menu

Car

2004 Subaru Impreza WRX STI, Silver

Join Date

Jun 2015

Location

California, Sacramento/SF Bay area

Posts

1,212

Local Date

05-25-2019

Local Time

08:26 AM

Awards

Re: Must-haves for a garage setup

Power tools, either air battery or corded pick one and start building a batter set of tools to make the job easier. I personally use a combination of battery and air tools for my garage work area. Also having a battery dewalt drill and impact screw drug vet are must haves for small project work.

User Info Menu

Car

2015 WRX STi Limited GBP

Join Date

Sep 2011

Location

PA

Posts

649

Local Date

05-25-2019

Local Time

11:26 AM

Awards

Re: Must-haves for a garage setup

Originally Posted by Raven32

Power tools, either air battery or corded pick one and start building a batter set of tools to make the job easier. I personally use a combination of battery and air tools for my garage work area. Also having a battery dewalt drill and impact screw drug vet are must haves for small project work.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Agree on the nice power tools. Don't cheap out here even if it means waiting a while to purchase. I recently sold 2 old Ridgid drills and batteries before black Friday deals and bought myself a Bosch hammer drill & impact drill set. They are absolutely amazing to use and with the free tool (reciprocating saw) and 2 batteries it was a great deal. The battery life on them is awesome. I highly recommend Bosch power tools. I also have a plunge router and palm sander of theirs that are great (bought them through the Certified Pre Owned site, also highly recommended over the box stores).

When I worked construction/cabinet making in high school and college we had DeWalt stuff that is very nice as well. I would be happy with their stuff, I am just partial to Bosch. Our maintenance guys have Milwaukee where I work now and it is okay. The battery system seems nice, but imo they are more expensive than they should be. Ridgid may have improved in the past few years and if you use your power tools a lot are a decent consideration since you get free batteries if yours die (at least you use to). I walked in to Home Depot and told them my batteries were no good and they told me to grab new ones...no questions asked. Saved me $100.

User Info Menu

Car

2019/Subaru/WRX STi/WRB

Join Date

Jan 2019

Location

Indiana

Posts

43

Local Date

05-25-2019

Local Time

03:26 PM

Re: Must-haves for a garage setup

Good recommendations. In addition I use a variety of tools including an angle grinder, saws all, and dreamed. Many hand tools. Breaker bar, foot and inch pound torque wrenches. Metric and standard wrenches, sockets, hex keys, torx. All drives and multiples. Don't need to get it all at once, but be prepared to invest as projects come up. The investment pays for itself over and over.

User Info Menu

Car

2004 Subaru Impreza WRX STI, Silver

Join Date

Jun 2015

Location

California, Sacramento/SF Bay area

Posts

1,212

Local Date

05-25-2019

Local Time

08:26 AM

Awards

Re: Must-haves for a garage setup

On my drive to work today was thinking of all the stuff I wish I would of done while my garage was still empty when I bought my house back in 2011. That being said #1 thing I wish I would of done is epoxy the floor. soo much easier and to do when the garage is empty. If there are already stains in the concrete from oil what not I would rent a cement grinder and grind off a very thin layer and epoxy seal the floor. If you wait to do it you will have to clear out your entire garage to do it later....From experience this is not ideal...I plan on doing mine this summer, so tired of crap getting on the floor and taking forever to get the stains out.

User Info Menu

Car

2015 WRX STi Limited GBP

Join Date

Sep 2011

Location

PA

Posts

649

Local Date

05-25-2019

Local Time

11:26 AM

Awards

Re: Must-haves for a garage setup

Originally Posted by Raven32

On my drive to work today was thinking of all the stuff I wish I would of done while my garage was still empty when I bought my house back in 2011. That being said #1 thing I wish I would of done is epoxy the floor. soo much easier and to do when the garage is empty. If there are already stains in the concrete from oil what not I would rent a cement grinder and grind off a very thin layer and epoxy seal the floor. If you wait to do it you will have to clear out your entire garage to do it later....From experience this is not ideal...I plan on doing mine this summer, so tired of crap getting on the floor and taking forever to get the stains out.

I did this ^^^ at my last place and it was a PITA taking everything out...cleaning the floor. Coating everything, then putting it all back. I also failed to adequately get old stains off the floor first which meant it pulled up in a few spots in the first few months. Overall I was happy with it but am happier that my new place already has it done!